Thousands of forestry jobs on the line in central British Columbia

Power Grab Eyed by Clark Gov't to Set Logging Levels

A leaked provincial cabinet document indicates that the provincial government is contemplating "suspending" the powers of one of its most powerful public servants in order to expedite a controversial logging program that has raised alarm bells in the professional forestry community.

B.C. plan would open Interior’s protected woods for logging

Old-growth forests, wildlife corridors and other long-protected timber zones in the British Columbia Interior could be opened up to logging in order to keep mills operating, according to a cabinet document detailing a proposal under consideration by the provincial government.

The full, devastating impact of the pine-beetle epidemic that has swept across British Columbia will be felt in the next few years when up to half the forest-industry jobs in the province’s interior will vanish, according to a government report meant to be confidential.

Opposition mounts to government talks on opening forest reserves to loggers

The B.C. government is holding talks with the forest industry over ways to supply more timber to beetle-hit Interior sawmills, including the option of opening forest reserves that have until now been out of bounds to loggers.